When a Ukrainian restaurant opened in my city (Krakow, Poland) more than 10 years ago, it was exactly like that. To further Polish-Ukrainian ties, it operated on rent-free premises donated by the city council. But then it was later found to be a Russian mafia transition point for illegal immigrants and soon closed down by the Polish police - but not before its "Ukrainian" owners got a bank to get a huge cash loan and ran away with the money. I'm not saying this is going to happen with Divo too - just that it is one possibility. Real Ukrainian food (bread and cheese especially) is really very, very good.

Jan, Krakow, Poland

valerie - we pray you discover your wits and your humour soon.

Billy, Paris,

Perhaps Valerie would prefer your reviews in comic-strip form with no long words.

Ken, Todmorden, UK

Take it easy on Valerie from NYC, she could be used to a different style of restaurant critique. Here in NYC, we have our versrion of A.A. Gill (Frank Bruni) and he is quite good at his job. However, Mr. Bruni's reviews are not nearly as hillarious as Mr. Giles or Mr. Gill.

Jason Silverstein, NYC, New York

Crikey mate,
Sounds like you stumbled into a Russian clip joint by mistake.

Tim, Bangkok,

Valerie,
There are Americans who 'get' us British and those who don't and never will. With your comments, its obvious that you fall into the latter catagory and completely fail to grasp Giles Corens humour, which is fairly reflective of English humour in general and much loved by most who read his reviews. I suggest that you just don't read Giles reviews in the future as they obvioulsy go way over your head!! Keep it up, Giles and don't change a thing!

SC, Brit in the US,

Well, slavic cuisine is sometimes strange, but it's just perfect when you have ice-cold vodka shot on the table or hangover from last night.
Marinated mushrooms, gherkins with honey, assorted cold meats,dumplings, soups......mmmm
Sad, then that this new place has stupid caviar pricing and negligent attitude, they need to improve.

Oh, and Valerie from NYC, you can easily check the end of this and many other restaurant reviews for conclusions, there's no need to read all this text if you want info in 2 sec.
Readers here probably like Giles' writing style (and AA Gill's & J.Clarkson's), at least I do.

Estonian, Tallinn, Estonia

Very, very funny and makes me nostalgic for days in Kiev. But Giles your last paragraph says it all. What were you doing drinking wine with your food? Thats not how it's done no wonder you didn't love it!

What you needed was a lot of vodka and this would have been a completely different review.

But..."I began to see why so many Russians (Ukrainians, whatever)" ... Noooooooo!

Claire, los masos,

Get a sense of humour Valerie. Since you are in NY you probably aren't going to be going out to too many London restaurants and Giles is writing for entertainment for heavens sake.

Ian, Frederick, USA MD

Valerie, how dull it would be if a food review was so black and white as you so creatively say "dissed, dismissed and dumped on in a line or two".

I love the way Giles Coren writes and being in the food business myself read restaurant reviews all day long and can happily say I think he is the wittiest, sharpest and most accurate of them all !

Sarah, London, UK

I'm sorry Valerie but if you do not appreciates the ascerbic wit of the likes of Giles Coren then perhaps you shouldn't read the column. Personally i've never laughed so much whilst working on a Saturday and the review really brightened my day, particularily as i know that i'd never pay to eat in a restaurant such as this and it's somewhat reassuring to know i'm not missing anything.

Chris Carr, Sunderland, UK

Valerie-
I found the piece very entertaining and worth the time it took to read. Perhaps you should simply have not continued to read once you realised that the writing was not to your taste.

GIles, clearly you are the 'brightest little lad in the class', keep it up!

John, Oxford, UK

Giles is the brightest lad in the class. And a class column to boot.

Charlotte, Munich, Germany

Who wants to read a restaurant review where a restaurant is dissed, dismissed and dumped in a line or two? There's blogs for that.

Giles may not be the brightest in the class, but restaurant reviews are meant to entertain. I'll never visit any of the restaurants he writes about, most probably, but I do enjoy reading his reviews. I've stopped reading newspapers in Singapore since I discovered Times Online, frankly. I know more about what's happening in UK than on my own doorstep.

Like all entertainment, it's all subjective. What one finds funny, others may not like. So if you don't like it, just don't read it.

Bertrand Lee Chai Pin, Mauritian in Singapore, Singapore

why waste so much space with so much boring writing making bad jokes about food that tastes like dentists fingers when a it could've (and should've) been dissed, dismissed, and dumped on in a line or two ? Or do you really think that the purpose of your column is to endlessly prove to us readers that you remain the brightest little lad in the class?

Valerie, NYC, NY, USA